Post navigation

Good News!

It is so nice to be taken seriously. This new gastroenterologist looked at my CT images and said, “We need to get this done soon.” He rearranged his schedule to fit me in.

Next week I should be able to eat without pain. I’ll be able to visit people over the Thanksgiving weekend without fear of landing in the hospital again. My kids will be able to concentrate on their schoolwork instead of worrying about me.

Instead of just dictating when I had to show up, the nurse asked about my schedule and gave me options. I told them to do it as soon as possible, and I’d make it work. It turns out I have some juggling to do because my pre-op appointment with anesthesia conflicts with my children’s violin recital, and the actual procedure conflicts with another doctor’s appointment that I’ve had scheduled for a month. BUT it will be done! I’ll juggle the other things as best I can, and I’m happy to do it.

The nurse said they would have done it this past week, except they couldn’t schedule an operating room at the hospital without a guarantee that the machine would be here. Apparently the EHL/ERCP combination is a special procedure that requires borrowing a machine.

It’s funny how different medical practices can take such different approaches to their potential patients.

Practice #1

Practice #2

Phone call to schedule appt

3 weeks after receipt of referral

1 day after receipt of referral

First appointment

5 weeks after receipt of referral

2 days after receipt of referral

Procedure appointment

8 weeks after receipt of referral

2 weeks after receipt of referral

Asked about my schedule

No

Yes

The second place will perform the procedure two days before the first place will even get me in for an initial appointment. Is it solely a matter of how they do business, or is there a difference in how the referrals were written?

I owe my family physician huge thanks for getting me the new referral. I wish there were something I could do to convey my gratitude to him.

Like this:

Related

9 thoughts on “Good News!”

Hi, I glad that you are finally getting the procedure done. You could just send your Doctor a thank you card and maybe box of biscuits / chocolates. I have done this and the card was especially appreciated that someone took the time to think about the person not just take the doctor personna.

Thank you for the idea (and for coming out of lurk mode🙂
I’ll do a thank you card and… I already know they’re overrun with cookies and candy around Christmas time (Last year I heard the cookies lasted clear through February)… maybe a Starbucks card?

Wonderful news! And it just goes to show us patients that we need to persist in finding good/great doctors and not just settle. And if you miss your daughter’s performance, ask someone to video it for you. You can then watch it in the comfort of your home or wherever and make it a family night!

So did I read that correctly and your gastroenterologist is doing the procedure? Wow! Mine referred me to a general surgeon (actually, he let me ask around and then did the referral to the one I wanted, who got me in her office four days later and scheduled my procedure for three days after that).

So glad also to read that you got to hear your kids play!! Kudos to that violin teacher!!

🙂 I’m much happier with this GI practice than the first one. In reviewing this new doctor’s CV, I notice that he’s MD, PhD, MBA, and wonder how much that MBA influences how the practice is run.

I saw a surgeon to remove my gallbladder, but GI is removing the bile duct stones. The doctor I’m seeing is a gastroentereologist with special training in doing lithotripsy with the ERCP. The guy in Seattle is also GI, but was going to bring in a urologist to do the lithotripsy. Apparently there are lots of variations in how this happens.
Only seven days until your procedure was done? Very impressive! That’s what I had expected to happen with me, but it’s been nearly two months and I don’t understand why GI#1 wouldn’t advocate for me. I’m probably going to make the follow-up appt he wants, and ask for clarification on what did/didn’t happen in his office to make this such an ordeal.

Our violin teacher is the best. My oldest two have been taking lessons for … wow, in February it will be 11 years.